Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1887-08-19
SOLDIERS DEPARTMENT.
SOME WAR ECHOES.

Justly lie Numbered Among tho Army of
the Unknown Heroes of the Civil Conflict.
The world is full of heroes, and it is
only occasionally that one comes to
the surface. know that it may seem
otherwise when onopicks up the papers
and reads about General This or Ad-
miral That who so gallantly did some
thing twenty-five years ago, and, judg-
ing from the war "reminiscences, the
crop of mon who were in the thick of the
fight is inexhaustiblc. BIT if you
count them you will find that not more
than one or two thousand heroes are
promincnt; the rest are forgotten or
unknown. They either can not talk or
court obscwity. They occupy humble
positions in life, and having done their
duty they are content to let their
stories die with them.
In the First ward there is watch-
man employed in an operation" His
name is George O'Ncil, and there is
nothing striking about him except his
good nature and quictness. When he
is not engaged in watching buildings
he works mt any odd job, and his talk,
when he talks, is generally about his
work. He is also remarkable for u
faculty he seems to possess of doing
without sleep. He rarely goes to bed,
unless sick, and an hours nap on pile
of boards seems to be all that he re-
quircs. 1t was this popularity that first
attracted my attention, and we struck
up an intimacy.
"How is it that you can do with so
little slecp?" l asked, curiously. II
learned that when l was an army
scout" he replied. was surprised
/ don't know why, but it seemed i'm
possible that the man could have been
~ scout. L always imagined, some-
how, that II scout must be small,
.wiry, active man, with black eyes.
o. Neil is wiry, but just the reverse of
active. | questioned him further.
During the war he was sergeant in
the Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cavalry,
had been brigade scout for two years
and n division scout one year. His
total time of service was four years
and two months, and he had been in
or witnessed some of the bloodiest
battles of the war.
He told me about the second Chancel-
lorsvillc fight and a grisly incident in
connection Herewith. "The woods
We're shclled," said he, land after
awhile they took fire and burned for
quite n time. When they cooled down
! went through them and it was ter
riblc sight to see the skeletons. The
fire had burned their clothes and the
very flesh off their bones, and every
thing except their boots Some of the
skeletons were proppcd against trees,
some lying out flat, others crouched in
n heap, and here and there would be n
pile of them, all mixed up We went
around looking for our men, and to
find them we turned down the tops of
their boots. If the cloth underneath
was blue they were our men; if gray it
was Confederate.
O'Neil was in the battle of Gettys-
burg and was IN eyewitness of the
hand-to-hand fight in the famous or
tuulN. liz WIS NlbSt W
Meade, and had special instructions to
take care of his body if he fell. His
description of the battle was very
vivid, and more so perhaps by the
quiet and almost cold-blooded way in
which he spoke of the awful destruc-
ton of life. | asked him then, rs l
rarely fail to ask soldier, what inn
preston this slaughter made upon him.
He gave the same answer that | have
always received.
"It's just this way. When first en-
listed / was all for fighting, and then,
when went into my first battle, l
was scared out of my wits. After that
! got so l didn't mind it at all, any
more than you do sitting down to din
ner There wasn't any savageness
about it unless it came to hand-to-
hand fight; it was just business, like
laying bricks. I've seen artillerymen
stop to take chew of tobacco, and if
there was halt during charge plen-
ty of men would out with their pipes
and have smoke, as cool and comfort
able rs if they We're at the campfire.
A man thought more of it after the
battle was over when we called the
roll, and the hospital tent was the place
after all that made man think. When
/ look back mt those days l wonder how
i ever could have taken hand in ths
bloody doings."
But it is in the description Of his
scouting days that am most interest
ed. The scout was the true hero of
the war and led romantic life. For
DAYS he did nothing but lounge around
headquarters, the envied of the soldiers
and then he would suddenly disappear;
never to return perhaps, or perhaps to
dash up suddenly to the Generals
cabin with dispatches that might mean
death or victory to thousands. He
was responsible to no one for his time
rs it was impossible to tell why he was
delayed en- route, and he led free and
o,sy l;fa ,so r,iln Rnt if ho was q